Labour Party (LP) flagbearer, Peter Obi’s remark that he is contesting the process rather than the outcome of the February 25 presidential election has ticked off Official Spokesperson of the APC Presidential Campaign Council, Festus Keyamo SAN.
Obi made the remark as a guest on Arise TV‘s Morning Show programme on Monday.
On Wednesday, March 1, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) declared APC flagbearer, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu as President-elect.
The commission said Tinubu got 8.8 million votes, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) got 6.9 million votes and Obi of LP got 6.1 million votes.
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Atiku and Obi have alleged irregularities in the election and knocked INEC, while vowing to seek redress in court.
Speaking during the Arise TV programme, Obi said that as a public institution, INEC should always submit itself to scrutiny from Nigerians since it is funded from taxpayers’ money.
“I’m not challenging who they declared,” Obi stated, “I’m not challenging whatever…the outcome, I’m challenging the process (through) which they arrived at their declaration.”
“And unless we do that, we’re not going to stop the rascality we witnessed in that election,” he added.
“INEC is a public institution and it should be open. Because if you do something and people are not satisfied then you should be able to open up yourself,” Obi said.
Quoting a news report on Obi’s remark on his verified Twitter handle, Keyamo queried the rationale behind Obi’s court case on the presidential election.
“The courts have said that ‘process’ is at the absolute discretion of the Commission. Labour Party lost the case in court.
“Besides, that ‘process’ is neither in the Constitution nor the Electoral Act. So, what’s the point?” Keyamo, who is a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), said.